It’s been said that Vladimir Putin loves George Bush but hates his advisors. I’m starting to feel the same way about Barak Obama. The “change” partisans were a little upset when Obama hired mostly old-guard folks to serve as his chief advisors and staffers. I, on the hand, have been ok until I read this article in The Cable. Apparently, last week Obama secretly met with a group of scholars, at a meeting hosted by Lee Hamilton. Lee Hamilton terrifies me. Hamilton’s foreign policy credentials are based on extensive experience as a congressman. He’s most recently known for having co-chaired both the 9/11 Commission and the Iraq Study Group. That’s right, the Iraq Study Group that recommended that the U.S. pull out most of its armed and capable military and send many more unarmed and undefended diplomats to a war zone—at best a recipe for ineffectiveness, at worse a recipe for a hostage situation or massacre.
For those of you who have never done consular work, the 9/11 commission report had some excellent things to say about terrorist travel and the visa process. Unfortunately, none of it made the cut into the final report and was instead relegated to a side publication. I don’t know how much Hamilton had to do with either of these fiascos, but they both show a lack of thoughtfulness that shouldn’t be rewarded. I respect President Obama’s efforts to avoid group think, but I hope he doesn’t rely too much on Lee Hamilton.
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Boy. The article seems to paint a good picture of him. I must confess, the only thing I knew of him was the Iraq Study group. A book that left me perplexed.
So much for immediate withdrawal. The surge has proven to be effective.
By the way, did you notice the comment by one reviewer for the 9/11 travel book on amazon?
Something tells me he didn’t read the book.
Iraq still reminds me of Vietnam. If not actually sooner, the test of our Iraq policy will come after the last “grunt” has left the country.